


Don't Make Me Stop This Car!

by sophe



Series: Children of Mars - Short Stories [1]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 02:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2175480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophe/pseuds/sophe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fox and Bell head to the Grand Canyon for a family vacation.  What could possibly be more fun than driving in a car with a four and six year old and two dogs?  Driving in a car with a four and six year old and two dogs while listening to Let it Go on repeat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Make Me Stop This Car!

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [sophe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophe/pseuds/sophe) in the [otproadtrip](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/otproadtrip) collection. 



> Yes, I know that dogs are not allowed in the Grand Canyon. But if you can suspend disbelief in order to read about Bell and Vulpes on a road trip, then you can suspend disbelief about dogs in the Grand Canyon.

Fox tightened his fingers around the steering wheel of the wood paneled Wagoneer and breathed deeply through his nose. _Let it go, Let it go! Can't hold it back any more._ He would have closed his eyes and banged his head against the steering wheel to make the song end, but he didn't dare pull his gaze away from the road. There was enough traffic on the highway that he needed to at least pay attention, but the cacophony of two high pitched voices in the backseat attempting to harmonize with the song set to repeat made his task difficult. He briefly glanced to the woman sitting next to him. Bell was pressing her head back against the seat, but her eyes were closed and she looked almost calm.

This trip was her idea. She wanted an old fashioned family vacation and even if they didn't have much beyond their adopted family, she was determined to make the best of it. Even if that meant buying a twenty year old Jeep Wagoneer just for the trip. And all of that would have been fine, or at least he kept on telling himself that, if it didn't include a four and six year old offering up opinions about said trip. But Bell usually got, what Bell wanted. 

She had booked two cottages for one week in the Grand Canyon itself and then two weeks in the Creek House at the L'Auberge de Sedona because, well, the rocks were red and it was one of the nicest resorts that would tolerate both children and dogs. God forbid the dogs not be able to join the family trip. Fox looked back in the rear view mirror and saw the two yellow Labs looking at him with intelligent brown eyes. As much as they loved the kids, and they did, they had the look of desperate men wanting to flee. He didn't blame them. Maybe next year he'd suggest a boys' trip and take the dogs. 

Luke and Cass were riding their motorcycles and Al and Cade were flying into the airport and renting a car. Fox had never envied anyone more in his entire thirty eight years.

"How much longer?"

"Are we there yet?"

"How many more minutes?"

"How many more seconds?"

"I need to tinkle."

"I want McDonalds."

Bell reached over and took Fox's hand from the steering wheel and squeezed. She looked over her shoulder at her children and smiled. "Can you wait a few more minutes?"

Ellie crossed her little legs in her car seat and wiggled around. "How many?"

Fox glanced at the passing road signs. "There's a gas station in about eight miles, so ten minutes."

Ellie pressed her hand between her legs, as if that could stop biology from occurring and squinched her eyes closed. "I'll try."

It was supposed to be a four hour trip. And Fox had already calculated that they had added on an additional hour with all the stopping. They had barely made it out of Vegas before they had to stop. Eddie needed to go to the bathroom. They had asked Ellie if she had to go then, but she had insisted that she didn't.

Bell smiled at him and despite all signs to the contrary, it calmed him. 

He pulled into the gas station next to the pump and Bell was already moving. She had her seat-belt off, was out of the car, and Ellie under one arm while barreling into the gas station to find a bathroom before Fox even turned the car off.

"Daddy?"

The tiny voice behind him pulled him out of his daydream of playing golf away from said little voice. "Yes, Eddie?"

"Boomew's dwooling on me." Eddie had trouble with his "r's".

"Yeah, he does that. Should we make him switch places Swank?"

The four year old boy seriously considered his father's question. "No. Swank buwps and fawts." Swank was an old man in dog years and couldn't be bothered with such social niceties as not gassing out a room. It was the reason they didn't have the AC on and had the windows down.

Fox got out of the car and topped up the gas guzzler's tank. It might get them to their destination with fewer stops. He slipped the nozzle back into the tank and got back into the car, moving it into a parking spot closer to the door of the station. Fox got back out of the car and opened the door for Eddie.

"Come on, kid. You're gonna go to the bathroom too."

"I don't have to."

"Yes you do. You just don't know it yet." With practiced fingers, Fox pulled the tow-head from the car seat and held his hand as he led him into the gas station. Bell and Ellie were picking out snacks in the aisle and he paused for a moment to appreciate the mother of his children. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing khaki shorts, tennis shoes, and a pink polo shirt. His wife was even more beautiful than the day he met her and he felt his heart flip a few times in his chest.

Bell looked up at him and smiled at him while waving a bag of Cheetos between her thumb and forefinger. They learned very quickly that being a good parent mean being sane and that meant bribery. Fox returned the smile with a wink and pulled Eddie along to the bathroom.

Upon seeing urinals, Eddie decided that yes, he did indeed have to go to the bathroom. Before Fox could stop him, Eddie had his pants and Ironman underwear pulled down to this ankles.

"Stand up toilets, Daddy!" That was another thing parenthood had taught them, mundane things were reason enough for excitement when a four year old was involved.

Once done, Fox and Eddie joined Bell and Ellie outside, walking the dogs on the small patch of grass. Swank was Bell's dog, he followed her everywhere, but Boomer had adopted Fox, and upon seeing his master he practically dragged Ellie behind him to get to Fox.

"Bad, Boomer! Heal, Boomer!" Her high pitched voice cut through the hot desert air before she finally gave up and half ran half stumbled behind the massive Lab.

Fox bent down to scratch Boomer's ears and looked up at Bell.

"The entire family has taken advantage of the pit stop." Swank leaned up against her leg and eyed Eddie with weary caution.

"Then by all means, let's get going." Fox scooped Eddie up onto his shoulders and took Boomer's leash from Ellie. The little girl laced her small hand into her father's and smiled up at him.

Once back in the car and back on the highway, the passengers in the backseat were quiet and calm. Probably because they were covered with a light coating of orange dusting that was being cleaned off by the four-legged passengers behind them. The children giggled and tried, unsuccessfully, to push the dogs away.

Let it Go was back on repeat and Fox's cheek began to twitch in time with the tune. Bell pulled out a magazine and the grown-ups tried to ignore the voices behind them.

"Stop touching me."

"I'm not touching you."

"You're touching me with your eyes."

"Mommmmmy, Ellie's being mean."

"Daddddddy, Eddie's being a brat."

"I am not a bwat"

Two and a half hours into the trip and Fox had pulled the car over to the side of the road. "So help me god, if I hear one more peep out of either of you, I will drop you off on the side of the road and your mother and I will go on this vacation alone!"

Two sets of blue eyes stared back at him. Both of his children were pressed hard against the back of their car seats, as though getting further away from their father might alleviate some of his anger.

Bell lifted her left eyebrow at Fox as he turned back around and pulled back out onto the highway, but didn't say anything. They had learned in the second year of being parents that if they didn't show a united front, the children would divide and conquer them without breaking a sweat. Fox just lifted his shoulders slightly. They had also learned that showing any sign of weakness usually led to being overrun. He loved his children, but under the best of circumstances they could be considered three foot tall terrorists.

Let it Go played eighteen more times before the threat of being left on the side of the road was forgotten and the high pitched voices were singing along with the song at the top of their lungs and Fox's twitch was keeping up with the beat.

When they finally pulled off of the highway and on to the road that would eventually end at their destination, the dogs had gotten into the act as well and were howling along to the children's singing. The car eventually rolled to a stop in front of the main lodge and Fox jumped from the car. He handed the valet several bills as the uniformed staff unpacked the car. "Break the radio. I don't care how you do it, but in the name of all that is holy break that damned cd player and there's another $100 in it for you."

Eddie and Ellie charged across the pathway into the open arms of their uncles Cade and Al. Swank stretched and sniffed around, Boomer stretched and passed gas. Fox took Bell's hand and led her towards their cabins. Cass and Luke sat on the porch, waiting for them. As soon as Fox flopped down in one of the Adirondack chairs on the porch, Cass handed him a glass of scotch.

Fox drank from the glass as though it was full of water. Luke and Cass looked up curiously at Bell, who just smiled at them.

"Bell? Can we tempt you with a glass?" Rose asked her friend while she refilled the empty glass Fox had shoved into her face.

"No thanks. I don't think that scotch mixes very well with Valium."

**Author's Note:**

> Some Fallout Fandom writers hang out in a group on Line (a chat program for smart phones and PCs - anyone and everyone is welcome!) and occasionally we come up with challenges for one another.
> 
> This story is in response to one of those challenges.
> 
> If you're interested in joining the chat, once you download Line, search out the ids: bellonavulpes or chocochipbiscuit and we'll invite you into the chat! If you're interested in writing a story for the challenge, feel free! You don't have to be in the chat to participate. Everyone is welcome!


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